Method of making a tissue paper product



J1me 1936- c. A. FOURNESS ET AL 2,043,351

METHOD OF MAKING A TISSUE PAPER PRODUCT Filed June 1, 1935 PRES-SURE cw? VF v Patented .Iune 1936 I v V i UNIT-ED OSTATEIS PAT-Eur oerce PRODUCT 1 Charles A. Fourness, Appleton, and James '1.

.. Whelan, Menasha, Wia, assignors to International Cellucotton Products Company, Chlcago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application June 1, 1935, Serial No. 24,539

3 Claims. (Cl. 154--33) This invention relates to tissue paper products, the dryer rollwby means of a doctor blade I! and particularly to tissue paper products made whereby the paper web is creped. The direction from tissue paper which is inherently soft, for 'of the creping, that is', the striations of the crepe example,,very thin crepe tissues such as are paper extend transversely of'the length of the 5 called facial or cleansing tissues. web, and the creped web designated I4 is wound The main objects of the invention are to prointo a roll IS, in accordance with more or less' vide an embossed, 'soft tissue paper product which conventional practice. has an especially attractive appearance but which Cleansing tissues are preferably made of two despite the embossing, retains and possibly enplies of the creped tissue stock. Therefore, to hances the normal or inherent softness of ordiprovide a two-ply web of creped tissue paper, two 10 nary soft, creped, unembossed tissue paper arrolls l5 of the creped tissue-are suitably mounted ticles, such as cleansing or facial tissues made to permit withdrawal therefrom of their respecaccording to the usual practice heretofore in tive webs and super-position of the latter to form general use. It is also an object of this invena multi-ply web. The multi-ply (in this instance,-

tion to provide practicable means for productwo-ply) web is fed between a set'or sets of cal- 15 ing a product such as -described. ender rolls i6 whichserve to crush some of the I Other objects and advantages of the invention striations of the creping. The calender rolls may will appear by reference to the following specialso be driven at such speed relative to the rate fication and accompanying drawing in which at which the supply rolls are driven, or one pair there is illustrated a portion of an embossed tisof calender rolls may be driven at increased speed 20 sue paper article which, in accordance with this relative to the other, as to effect stretching out of invention, has the inherent softness of unemsome of the creping in the webs. bossed, very thin, and inherently soft crepe tissue The multi-ply web is then fed between a hard paper and a preferred method o f'making the embossing roll I! and a platen roll it having. a same. soft and resilient covering I9. 25

In the drawing-- The pattern of embossingon the hard roll, Figs. 1 and 2 arediagrammatic illustrations of which may be of steel, is preferably an all-over successive steps ,in the method of treating the pattern and by way of example it may consist of paper webs from which the cleansing tissue sheet a multiplicity of small, more or less rounded obor like product is formed; a long projections which are spaced from each 30 Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3-4 other a-distance whichis less than the width of Fig. 2; of the projections. Such a pattern is illustrated,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan of an embossing greatly enlargedrin Figs. 4 to '7 inclusive. Other roll (on an enlarged scale) illustrating one form patterns may be employed but it is preferable of embossing which may be used to advantage in that the pattern be a small one, winch will efi'ect 3- accordance with the invention; embossing not materially coarser than the crep- Figs. 5 and'B are sections on-the lines 5-5 and ing in the webs, and preferably such that all of 6-6 respectively of Fig. 4; the lines of creping are interrupted.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary plan of a sheet of The steel roll may conveniently, but not neces- 40 creped tissue paper showing a portion thereof sarily, be approximately nine and one-half-inches 40 treated in. accordance with the present invenin diameter. With such a steel roll,-the platen 5 tion, and r011 may conveniently be about fourteen inches Fig) 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of cerin diameter. The resilient jacket forming a part tain conditions which exist in the production of of the platen roll is preferably about three quaran article embodying this invention. ters of an inch in thickness and of a density Referring now to the drawing, there is diawhich will give a plastometer reading of 45 to grammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 the dryer or with a one-eighth inch ball. The outer surface of delivery roll H) of any form of paper machine on the rubber jacket is substantially smooth and which tissue paper is produced. The web of tisplain. sue paper designated II is delivered to the dryer Only the steel embossing roll need be driven 50 roll ill by means of a. felt belt i2, the point of and it is preferably adjusted to the platen roll so delivery being preferably near the point of reas to produce a pressure which is sufficient to moyal of the web fromthe dryer so that the largproduce a satisfactory embossing effect on the est possible area of the dryer roll is utilized. crepe tissue paper fed between the rolls. The The web of paper II is preferably removed from pressure which has been Successfully e p yed s 55 l or sufllcient to cause a compression of about one thirty-second of an inch in the rubber roll jacket and a contact zone between the roller of about seven-eighths of an inch in width. This condition isdiagrammatically represented on an enlarged scale in Fig. 8.

From an examination of Fig. 8, it will be seen that sheets fed between the rolls are subjected to a gradually, increasing pressure until the maxi-. mum embossing pressure is applied in the middle of the width of the contact zone. The pressure applied to sheets to be embossed starting at the initial point A of contact between the rolls rises fairly rapidly as the sheet progresses between the rolls until about one-fifth or some such portion of the width of the zone of contact is traversed. Then the applied pressure rises somewhat more slowly until the middle point of maximum pressure is reached. From there on the pressure first slowly, and then more rapidly decreases until the embossed sheet emerges from the contact zone. If the normal pressure applied is, say 250 pounds per lineal inch of the contact zone, the maximum pressure, at the middle of the contact zone will be considerably greater, as indicated in the diagram Fig. 8.

It will be observed that the creped tissue sheets are gripped over a band corresponding to the zone of contact between the rolls. By this means, the sheets are effectively supported and held against slipping or creeping between the rolls and the initial area of the webs or sheets is not reduced as a result of the embossing. In other words, the embossing requires actual stretching of the sheet material, rather than a gathering effect such as results from conventional embossing methods where the embossing is effected along a line of contact between rolls, as distinguished from an area of contact as in the disclosure in this application.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the multi-ply creped tissue web has the striations of its creping extending transversely of the length of the web, so that when the web is embossed between the steel roll I! and the rubber covered roll -l9, the longitudinal direction of the elongated embossing pattern will extend transversely of the creping of the paper. As indicated in the drawing, especially Fig. 7, the described embossing forms a pattern which is not materially coarser than the creping of the paper, and serves to break up the continuity of the creping. Theembossed sheets tend to have or approximate the appearanceof woven textile material such as linen, the creping in the sheets serving to produce the characteristic irregularity of such material. The embossed web may then be severed into independent cleansing tissue sheets or otherwise treated to prepare the web for marketing.

One design of embossing such as typified by that herein illustrated is such that there are approximately 30 circumferentially extending lines of embossing to the inch and such that there are about 24 transversely extending lines to the inch. A pattern of such proportions produces excellent results.

The speed of rotation of the rolls appears to be of no great importance and they may be driven at any speed desired or necessary for the required production. The rolls are not geared together but operate independently, only the steel embossing roll being positively driven. The-other'roll will of course follow the driven roll incident to the operating contact between their surfaces.

The embossing of paper napkins and other paper articles with various designs is of course an old practice but so far as known, no one has heretofore attempted to emboss crepe tissue paper with an all-over design for any purpose such as herein contemplated. Paper embossing as practiced in the prior practical art is usually accomplished between a steel embossing roll and a hard paper or other composition roll which has been run in with the steel roll so as to have a permanent impression on its surface which is complementary to the raised design of the embossing of the steel roll. This form of apparatus cannot successfully be used for the purpose of embossing crepe tissue paper, for the reason that when crepe tissue paper is embossed in that manner the resulting product is hardened or stiffened so as to become wholly unfit for any of the uses to which creped tissue paper is put because of its normal softness.

The described arrangement is illustrative of one practical method and suitable apparatus for producing an improved, inherently soft tissue paper product. Changes may be made in the described arrangement without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claims, the same being construed as broadly as possible consistent with the state of the art.

We claim:

1. The method of making a tissue paper sheet suitable for facial and like uses, which consists in conducting a creped tissue paper sheet through a pressure zone of substantial length whereby the concentration of pressure at any point of the pressure zone is insuflicient to produce any hardening of the material while simultaneously, by means of said pressure, forming in the sheet an all-over pattern not materially coarser than the creping in the sheet.

2. The method of making a crepe tissue paper sheet suitable for facial and like uses, which consists in conducting a creped tissue paper sheet through the nip of a pair of embossing rolls, the pattern roll of which is made of hard material bearing an all-over design not materially coarser than the original creping in the paper sheet, and the platen roll of which has a smooth, soft, resilient rubber surface, said rolls being so juxtaposed and the softness of said platen rubber being such that the rubber of the platen roll is compressed to form said nip of substantial length whereby the concentration of, pressure at any point of said nip is insuilicient to harden the crepe tissue paper while the pressure is sufficient to impress the pattern of said pattern roll in said paper.

3. A paper article of such softness as to be suitable for facial and like uses, comprising a creped tissue paper sheet having an all-over pattern embossed therein, the pattern being not materially coarser than the creping and comprising a multiplicity of elements separated by interposed areas of the sheet which remain substantially in their initially soft condition.

CHARLES A. FOURNESS. JAMEST. WHELAN. 

